


A Trip to the Zoo

by idkwriteshitdown



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Allison Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Allison Hargreeves-centric, Family Bonding, Gen, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:21:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27810691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idkwriteshitdown/pseuds/idkwriteshitdown
Summary: The Hargreeves sibling get to go to the zoo. It is not all fun and games.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 12





	A Trip to the Zoo

"I heard a rumour," she said, when they had all sat down for breakfast, "that you said we could go to the zoo". She sat back in her seat with a smile. 

It was only later that she would realize her mistake.

I heard a rumor you said we could go to the zoo. 

Said

You said we could go to the zoo. Not, we could go to the zoo. Not, you'd take us to the zoo. But you said we could go to the zoo. 

It was only small little word. She wished she knew then what she knew now. That what you said was more important than what you meant. If she did maybe she could’ve avoided this whole mess.

Her siblings watched their father with bated breath. Allison shifted under her fathers stare. It was clear to all that he was trying to resist the effects of her rumor. The excitement and smugness she felt when she first said the rumor slowly faded with each passing second. 

Over a minute had gone by before Reginald seemed to give in. “You may,” he said stiffly, eyes locked with hers. “Go to the zoo.”

Immediately whispers broke out among the room as her siblings discussed what animals they wanted to see. Even Vanya joined in on the discussion. Allison couldn’t find it in herself to participate. The rest of the room faded in the background. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, and Reginald’s stare burning a hole into her. She turned to her plate.

“Silence at the table children.“ Reginald said sharply. “Do not think that this means you’ll get to skip your studies.” He placed his silverware on the table and neatly folded his napkin. “Now if you will excuse me I need to speak to Pogo. This trip will be educational for you. I expect you to be at the door at noon exactly. If you are not there you will be left behind.” 

They waited until he left the room before discussions picked up again. 

“Oh man.” Klaus groaned, “Pogo’s probably going to have us write an essay or something." He shoveled some eggs into his mouth. "Hey you should totally rumor Pogo into not giving us homework."

"You did a really good job." Luther said.

Five nodded in agreement. "I almost thought that he wasn't going to do it." He shrugged, picking at his food. "Guess he's just as human as the rest of us."

Allison nodded and took a bite of her breakfast.

"Yeah. D-did you see his f-fa-face." They all laughed as Diego tried to mimic Reginalds face. 

"No, no it was more like this." Ben shouted before pulling his own weird face. 

"What about this?" Vanya asked softly between giggles. The table was silent as they looked at Vanya. Five was the first to crack, letting out a loud snort. The rest were quick to follow and the room was filled with joyous laughter. 

Allison gave a small smile as she watched her siblings each compete with each other on who could make the silliest face. This was the happiest she’s seen them all in a long time. She pushed away the feeling of discomfort and allowed herself a real smile at her siblings antics. Whatever consequences she would face from her little act of rebellion she would gladly take to experience the happiness that filled the room.

\---

At 12 o’clock sharp Allison and her siblings were lined up by the front door in numerical order. They whispered among themselves. They had been down there for over an hour, being too excited to do anything else. 

All conversation ended quickly as they heard the tap of Reginald’s cane and the click of his shoes as he walked down the stairs. Allison stiffened and looked straight ahead. She resisted the urge to fidget. She did not want to give their Father any reason to take away this trip. Out of the corner of her eye she could see her siblings do the same. Even Diego who was always making some small movement, and Klaus who was always testing boundaries stood perfectly still. Everyone knew that this was something not to take lightly.

Reginald slowly walked over to them looking at each of them with a critical eye. Pogo followed behind him. In his hands he held a stack of notebooks. He passed them out to each of the children. Allison looked curiously at the hers. A strip of paper stuck out the side of it. She moved to pull it out before stopping. Reginald didn’t say they could open their books.

“You will not be needing your blazer’s children. Leave them here. Grace will take care of it for you.” 

They looked at each other in surprise but didn’t say anything. Reginald waited for them to remove their blazers before speaking again.

“In your books you have a sheet of paper. It has the name of an animal in Latin. Read it. Memorize it. Pogo will be taking the paper before you leave. This is your assigned animal. You are to find it in the zoo and take notes. Tomorrow you will hand in an essay about the animal.” He stared at each of them in turn. “While you will not be wearing the emblem of the Umbrella Academy you are still a part of it and I expect you to act accordingly.” He walked to the door. “You have two minutes to read and memorize what is on the paper. When you are done you can join me in the car. It will be leaving in exactly two minutes. Your time starts now.”

Allison quickly opened her book and pulled out the sheet of paper. Panthera Leo was written in neat elegant script. Panthera Leo. A Lion. It was an easy name to remember. 

“What d-did you get?” Diego asked looking over her shoulder. She showed her paper to him. He scowled. “That’s not f-fair. I got the the. P-put, put ter,” He scowled, shoving the paper at her. 

“Pteronura brasiliensis” she read.

“But it star, starts with a P.” He threw his hands up. “W-what even is it?”

She shrugged, giving the paper back to him.

“Orycteropus afer?” Klaus exclaimed. “What the fuck is that?”

“It’s an aardvark you idiot.” Five said. 

“Oh.” he tossed his paper on the ground. “How do you even know that.”

“I read. You should try it sometime.”

“Hey can you tell me what mine says?” Luther asked walking over.

“Children two minutes has almost passed.” Pogo opened the door. “Time for you to leave.”

“I’ll look when we get there.” Five said popping out the door.

Allison followed her siblings to the car. Reginald was not in the back with them. He preferred to sit up front, only a divider separating them. They sat quietly in number order. Even though he could not see them he could still hear them, and had the uncanny ability to know when they tried to break the rules. 

Allison was glad for the silence. She looked down at her notebook, ignoring the mimed conversations going around her. Instead she focused on quelling the feeling of butterflies in her stomach.

\---

Allison walked slowly over the lions exhibit. When they had first arrived they had ran all around the zoo trying to see everything they could. Their father gave them no instructions only telling them that they would have to be back at the front gate by five o’clock. It was nearing three. 

It was Ben who told them that they should start researching for their essays. He said it was so they could spend the last hour relaxing, but Allison knew he feared what their father would do if their essays were less than satisfactory.

Allison clutched her notebook to her chest and pushed forward. In the mansion solitude was something that was hard to find. Despite how big it was you could always hear or find one of her siblings. She had never been completely separated from them like this. Suddenly she had the feeling that this trip to the zoo had ulterior motives.

**Author's Note:**

> I see the idea "Why didn't Allison just rumor their father" negatively thrown around a lot. Like it's some giant loop hole. To me that falls into the same line category of asking a victim of abuse why they didn't just leave or fight back. First off Reginald is not an idiot, I'm sure he would have planned for them using their powers against him (ie Vanya). Also he raised them from birth. That's plenty of time to completely corrupt their view of normal to corrupt them. Learned helplessness. Have you ever read narratives of people who grew up in cults or in abusive households. A theme that pops up a lot is that they don't realize how bad some of their treatment was until they talk to someone else and they found out what was normal was actually not normal. I see the characters of the show the same way. 
> 
> Anyways that's my rant on the subject. I'm trying so hard to think of the proper punishment for Allison trying her powers against Reggie but I have so many different ideas. They weren't even going to go to the zoo in draft 1 of the fic.
> 
> If you want to check it out, [here](https://idkwriteshitdown.tumblr.com/post/636269087959515136/a-trip-to-the-zoo) is a link to the same fic on my tumblr.


End file.
